Comedian Alibaba has shared how he tried to develop an island but did not get the approval of the government on the how many occasions he tried. Now the islands are closing up and still not used to improve the economic foundation of the country.
There used to be 2 islands in the body of water facing the 3rd Mainland Bridge… in 2003… I applied to lease it and make it a recreation spot. The idea was not approved. In 2007 I applied again… The request was not approved…. in 2012, when I made this visit (see photos) to the island, the second island of about 300sq Mt had disappeared.
This was the last one. It had about 100sqmtr left. About 2015, the island subsequently disappeared. It’s still under the water there now but just as a high ground. I just stumbled on the email my Technical Partners from South Africa sent me and one line in their email hit me… “Mr Ali Baba, it’s incomprehensible that a Government can not see the potentials that you have proposed, in this project, with all the economic and international tourism values. We, sympathize with you and look forward to working with you on future projects. Bryan Helsing”
https://www.instagram.com/p/BmSi9i9BfE1/?taken-by=alibabagcfr
The island did not disappear because of rising water. It disappeared because of lack of development and neglect. The island is like crude oil… crude oil alone has no value proposition. It’s the value added products that make it an economic item. That is what the island was. Crude. It’s the value that you then add to it that makes it what makes people troop to it. We have deserts in the Northern parts of Nigeria. What value has been added? None. So this island had potentials. Many. But Government did not see it. Even when a private business saw the value that could be milked from it the Government didn’t see it. Then the worst happened. People started mining the clay on the island. You can see the height of the island. Look to the right of the picture and you will see a heap of clay that was already dug up for transportation. And as soon as the illegal miners saw us, they took off. So, yes Government did take action, but the human factor was what finally finished the islands. People came and took away the clay and by that emptied the whole island
